Driving the Panamera Turbo vs Taycan 4S vs Taycan Turbo S
Discussion
I bought a new Panamera ST Turbo in early 2018, and have driven it in a wide variety of conditions…Canadian winters, Autobahns, European back roads and even on tracks, unlikely as that may seem. It has superb roadholding for a big car, great acceleration and roadholding and is beautifully finished. I did not need the hybrid as the Turbo was fast enough and also lighter. 550 bhp V8 was fine for me, and I still have and enjoy the car very much.
As we all know , the world is changing and over the past few years I have driven a variety of EVs from the Mitsubishi mi-EV to the Jag I-Pace and the dual-motor Tesla S. I recently had the chance to drive the Porsche Taycans.
A couple of general observations before dealing with actually driving.
- the Taycan is incredibly colour- sensitive in my view and shrinks in dark colours.
- just like on the Panamera the touch screen ends up covered in fingerprints. I will never like them. I am well aware that the whole digital instrument world is here, but the dash displays now just do not have the feeling of quality of the old analogue instrument panels.
-the C4S is still priced as a luxury car . I would not buy the base interior which is quite plasticky and does not reflect the level of the car.
This is not a track car. Therefore best to spec the car with all the required options and understand the full price.
leather interior much better:
-the position the start button and the shift lever are visually blocked by the steering wheel so that I could not see them when I had adjusted my seat to the way I wished.
-rear window is very shallow which is one of the reasons I prefer the Sport Turismo version of the Panamera
I personally prefer the front styling of the Taycan:
.JPG?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds)
- Like any EV you need to know location of charging stations. I ran one car down to about 29km range from full charge and had a bit of an economy run to avoid the embarrassment of a roadside stop. There are not a lot of charging stations still once you go off main routes.
Driving is another matter.
-Roadholding in normal conditions is very similar to the Panamera, which is to say excellent , and the cars all feel much smaller than they are. The big difference is the acceleration out of corners is huge on the EVs. The Pana will out-accelerate the 4s from a standing start but coming out of a corner at high speed my feel was that both of the evs were quicker,
The Panamera is an immensely comfortable and quiet long distance mile-eater and the sound of the V8 is a delight the pushed hard. The Taycans are of course whisper-quiet and it is astonishingly easy to hit autobahn-type speeds in seconds and not feel it.
In normal traffic the cars feel surprisingly similar to me.
However, if you want basically unlimited power the Turbo S is just incandescent. I tried launch control on a quiet wide rural road. I have never felt any car at any price that could run to 100 km/h in under 3 seconds and have zero wheelspin or drama. The car just felt completely unruffled.
Yet, if I were buying a Taycan I would probably go for the C4S with a high spec interior as the added power of the Turbo S is really not accessible in anything but exceptional conditions. ( Even the Panamera has more performance than I usually use). There is a huge price difference between the entry-level 4S. and the Turbo S
Claimed 0-60 times;
Taycan 4S. 3.8 sec
Pana Turbo 3.3 sec
Taycan Turbo S 2.6 sec
Will I buy one?
I think the future will dictate that this will happen; If I had a daily commute to the city of an hour or two I would have one in a flash where there was charging at both ends. The feeling of calm and quiet even in heavy traffic is very relaxing. However, some of my driving is very, very long distance from Canada to Arizona each year and back. Even if there is ultimately very accessible charging, the accumulation of recharging times and possible lineups can make a huge difference to the time a trip takes.
Passing a scrapyard it occurred to me that internal combustion engines are on borrowed time, and in ten years we will likely once again be into mass scrappage.
Of the available EV’s the Taycan is by far the best I have driven, though it lacks the recharging network of the Teslas. It handles are drives like a true Porsche. I prefer the functionality of the Sport Turismo version of the Panamera and there will be some variants of this in the future of the Taycan which makes it a lot more attractive.
We are going to see shedloads of new EVs so this is just my take as of now, which is the Taycan is top of the heap and provides very familiar Porsche handling if you are already an driver; I have very little doubt that this race is just beginning.
As we all know , the world is changing and over the past few years I have driven a variety of EVs from the Mitsubishi mi-EV to the Jag I-Pace and the dual-motor Tesla S. I recently had the chance to drive the Porsche Taycans.
A couple of general observations before dealing with actually driving.
- the Taycan is incredibly colour- sensitive in my view and shrinks in dark colours.
- just like on the Panamera the touch screen ends up covered in fingerprints. I will never like them. I am well aware that the whole digital instrument world is here, but the dash displays now just do not have the feeling of quality of the old analogue instrument panels.
-the C4S is still priced as a luxury car . I would not buy the base interior which is quite plasticky and does not reflect the level of the car.
This is not a track car. Therefore best to spec the car with all the required options and understand the full price.
leather interior much better:
-the position the start button and the shift lever are visually blocked by the steering wheel so that I could not see them when I had adjusted my seat to the way I wished.
-rear window is very shallow which is one of the reasons I prefer the Sport Turismo version of the Panamera
I personally prefer the front styling of the Taycan:
- Like any EV you need to know location of charging stations. I ran one car down to about 29km range from full charge and had a bit of an economy run to avoid the embarrassment of a roadside stop. There are not a lot of charging stations still once you go off main routes.
Driving is another matter.
-Roadholding in normal conditions is very similar to the Panamera, which is to say excellent , and the cars all feel much smaller than they are. The big difference is the acceleration out of corners is huge on the EVs. The Pana will out-accelerate the 4s from a standing start but coming out of a corner at high speed my feel was that both of the evs were quicker,
The Panamera is an immensely comfortable and quiet long distance mile-eater and the sound of the V8 is a delight the pushed hard. The Taycans are of course whisper-quiet and it is astonishingly easy to hit autobahn-type speeds in seconds and not feel it.
In normal traffic the cars feel surprisingly similar to me.
However, if you want basically unlimited power the Turbo S is just incandescent. I tried launch control on a quiet wide rural road. I have never felt any car at any price that could run to 100 km/h in under 3 seconds and have zero wheelspin or drama. The car just felt completely unruffled.
Yet, if I were buying a Taycan I would probably go for the C4S with a high spec interior as the added power of the Turbo S is really not accessible in anything but exceptional conditions. ( Even the Panamera has more performance than I usually use). There is a huge price difference between the entry-level 4S. and the Turbo S
Claimed 0-60 times;
Taycan 4S. 3.8 sec
Pana Turbo 3.3 sec
Taycan Turbo S 2.6 sec
Will I buy one?
I think the future will dictate that this will happen; If I had a daily commute to the city of an hour or two I would have one in a flash where there was charging at both ends. The feeling of calm and quiet even in heavy traffic is very relaxing. However, some of my driving is very, very long distance from Canada to Arizona each year and back. Even if there is ultimately very accessible charging, the accumulation of recharging times and possible lineups can make a huge difference to the time a trip takes.
Passing a scrapyard it occurred to me that internal combustion engines are on borrowed time, and in ten years we will likely once again be into mass scrappage.
Of the available EV’s the Taycan is by far the best I have driven, though it lacks the recharging network of the Teslas. It handles are drives like a true Porsche. I prefer the functionality of the Sport Turismo version of the Panamera and there will be some variants of this in the future of the Taycan which makes it a lot more attractive.
We are going to see shedloads of new EVs so this is just my take as of now, which is the Taycan is top of the heap and provides very familiar Porsche handling if you are already an driver; I have very little doubt that this race is just beginning.
Edited by RDMcG on Wednesday 23 December 19:31
Great post and I doubt there are many people whose Panamera’s have done half of what yours has. I think your comments on the Taycan are very good...although i would go a bit further...I think the packaging of the Taycan is poor for such a big car, boot opening is tiny and as you say that rear window is very shallow so visibility isn’t great. The “Sport Turismo” version will be the one to have going forward but given how much extra boot space that liberates in the Panamera not sure if it transforms the Taycan. Also agree about the materials in the Taycan....the standard finish without the leather feels pretty cheap for a £100k car. I think it’s the same with the 992, some of the finishes feel very VW parts bin.
Great write up I really like the Panamera Sport Turismo and the Taycan is interesting.
From all I've read and watched I just can't see the upside of having an EV at present.
If I owned one I think I'd have the same feeling as "always driving around with 25 miles" in the tank.
You also pay a premium having a Taycan at present and I'm sure the battery technology will evolve in leaps and bounds over the next 5 years.
I'll continue to enjoy my manual 911 whilst I can.
From all I've read and watched I just can't see the upside of having an EV at present.
If I owned one I think I'd have the same feeling as "always driving around with 25 miles" in the tank.
You also pay a premium having a Taycan at present and I'm sure the battery technology will evolve in leaps and bounds over the next 5 years.
I'll continue to enjoy my manual 911 whilst I can.
Cheib said:
Great post and I doubt there are many people whose Panamera’s have done half of what yours has. I think your comments on the Taycan are very good...although i would go a bit further...I think the packaging of the Taycan is poor for such a big car, boot opening is tiny and as you say that rear window is very shallow so visibility isn’t great. The “Sport Turismo” version will be the one to have going forward but given how much extra boot space that liberates in the Panamera not sure if it transforms the Taycan. Also agree about the materials in the Taycan....the standard finish without the leather feels pretty cheap for a £100k car. I think it’s the same with the 992, some of the finishes feel very VW parts bin.
Yep, trunk is indeed shallow and it is further limited by the quite bulky charger connections in a small suitcase::.JPG?width=590&height=370&fit=bounds)
I think I am a bit of a Luddite. The Taycan drives impeccably and is much more engaging than I expected, especially driven hard.
Still, when I tramp the Panamera hard I hear this sound- starts properly at about 0:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSKfASgXJAA
Still, when I tramp the Panamera hard I hear this sound- starts properly at about 0:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSKfASgXJAA
RDMcG said:
I think I am a bit of a Luddite. The Taycan drives impeccably and is much more engaging than I expected, especially driven hard.
Still, when I tramp the Panamera hard I hear this sound- starts properly at about 0:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSKfASgXJAA
Funny I had a Taycan drive by as I was washing the car today. Sounded like something from the future.Still, when I tramp the Panamera hard I hear this sound- starts properly at about 0:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSKfASgXJAA
I can imagine the youth of today wanting a Taycan (in a Telsa type way) just for the futuristic noise.
g7jhp said:
Funny I had a Taycan drive by as I was washing the car today. Sounded like something from the future.
I can imagine the youth of today wanting a Taycan (in a Telsa type way) just for the futuristic noise.
There is no question. My preferences are from the past; this is from the future.I can imagine the youth of today wanting a Taycan (in a Telsa type way) just for the futuristic noise.
I have a NA V12 which is a pinnacle and which I adore and which makes the hairs on my arm stand up at 7000rpm. I'm buying a Taycan as it somehow makes it look sloppy and archaic!
The INSTANT nature of the Taycan with no slip or drag or mechanical bits and bobs meshing and grimacing and delaying is just simpler and purer and better. That battery beneath your feet just provides an absurd low COG with flatter cornering than a gargantuan amazing V12 propped up at your chest height cant.
If I manage to do the deal I'll have the very best of both worlds
But I'll only ever love the Aston as its got personality, heritage, character and a persona the Taycan will never have. I will love both my kids mind and not spewing fumes is also quite a positive too.
The INSTANT nature of the Taycan with no slip or drag or mechanical bits and bobs meshing and grimacing and delaying is just simpler and purer and better. That battery beneath your feet just provides an absurd low COG with flatter cornering than a gargantuan amazing V12 propped up at your chest height cant.
If I manage to do the deal I'll have the very best of both worlds
But I'll only ever love the Aston as its got personality, heritage, character and a persona the Taycan will never have. I will love both my kids mind and not spewing fumes is also quite a positive too.Have two more Porsches on order and neither is electric. They do not really fit my travel profile . The time will surely come when the regulations are so militant against ICE cars that I will make the change, and at that stage I expect to be pretty much past the kind of cars I drive now. My next RS will be my last without a doubt and I really have no burning desire for anything else.
I will ultimately buy some kind of city EV car to replace my ancient Smart Fortwo that is never used for drives of more than about 50km. early days yet but lots of product ahead.
I will ultimately buy some kind of city EV car to replace my ancient Smart Fortwo that is never used for drives of more than about 50km. early days yet but lots of product ahead.
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